Category Archives: 2018 NYS Governor’s Race

The Working Families Party endorsed Cynthia Nixon for governor and Jumaane Williams for lieutenant governor, rejecting its 2014 path of political accommodation and instead supporting Nixon and Williams over Governor Andrew Cuomo and Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. The 2014 endorsements were contentious, with a pragmatic view of the utility of supporting Cuomo’s reelection overcoming the ideological kinship many in the party had with Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu. Several large unions have left the WFP since then however, with 32BJ and CWA withdrawing just ahead of the Nixon endorsement.

The New York Progressive Action Network, an activist group that grew out of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, recently endorsed Cynthia Nixon for governor and Jumaane Williams for lieutenant governor.

The Democratic Rural Conference drew nearly all of New York State’s major Democratic elected officials to its 2018 annual meeting, with Governor Andrew Cuomo, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, NYS Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand leading the elected attendees. Rep. Paul Tonko, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, NYS Senator Michael Gianaris, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown and NYC Council Member and candidate for lieutenant governor Jumaane Williams also attended. The DRC is composed of Democrats from small counties who for the past 20 years have worked jointly to increase their impact in state politics.

Three Republican gubernatorial candidates pitched their candidacies to the Manhattan Republican Executive Committee Wednesday night, seeking the Committee’s endorsement in the developing race for the party’s 2018 nomination. Joe Holland, John DeFrancisco and Marc Molinaro each addressed the audience at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Republican Club for about 25 minutes, with 10 minutes for a speech and 15 minutes for audience Q&A.